(HT: American Digest)
The Value of Being Late to Class – If You’re Smart
One day in 1939, Berkeley doctoral candidate George Dantzig arrived late for a statistics class taught by Jerzy Neyman. He copied down the two problems on the blackboard and turned them in a few days later, apologizing for the delay — he’d found them unusually difficult. Distracted, Neyman told him to leave his homework on the desk.
On a Sunday morning six weeks later, Neyman banged on Dantzig’s door. The problems that Dantzig had assumed were homework were actually unproved statistical theorems that Neyman had been discussing with the class — and Dantzig had proved both of them. Both were eventually published, with Dantzig as coauthor.
“When I began to worry about a thesis topic,” he recalled later, “Neyman just shrugged and told me to wrap the two problems in a binder and he would accept them as my thesis.”
(HT: Futility Closet)
Things You Don’t Want To See in the Back Yard
Mom! The Horta’s trying to sneak under the fence again!
Homer vs. Homer

I appreciate wisdom wherever I find it. Homer is one of my favorite sages – either Homer the Greek philosopher or Homer Simpson, I don’t care which. Here are a series of quotes from the great Homers, courtesy of Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Best of the Best edition. (Like I said, wisdom is where you find it.) The first in each series is from the Greek, the second is from the Simpson.
- “It is the bold man who every time does his best.”
- “I don’t know, Marge. Trying is the first step toward failure”
- “The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.”
- “You gave both dogs away? You know how I feel about giving!”
- “The fates have given mankind a patient soul.”
- “Give me some piece of mind or I’ll mop the floor with you!”
- “Nothing in the world is so incontinent as a man’s accursed appetite.”
- “Ahh, beer…I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer!”
- “I detest he who hides one thing in his heart and means another.”
- “But, Marge, it takes two people to lie: one to lie, and one to listen.”
- “The man who acts the least, disrupts the most.”
- “It is better to watch things than to do them.”
- “A sympathetic friend can be quite as dear as a brother.”
- “Television–teacher, mother, secret lover!”
- “How mortals take the gods to task! Yet their afflictions come from us.”
- “I’m not normally a religious man, but if you’re up there, save me, Superman!”
Anti-Semitism and the Ongoing Self-Immolation of Europe.
European Jewry In Its Worst Condition Since the End of World War II (HT: Gateway Pundit)
A Little Wisdom From the Ancients
From Plato:
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”
“Ignorance: the root of all evil.”
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.”
(HT: Laura at Pursuing Holiness)
Joys of Fatherhood
Up at 3am to take Son 2 to the airport for a trip to Dallas. Where’s da coffee? It will be his first flight as an unaccompanied minor.
Naked Crab!
This is pretty amazing. Time lapse video of a spider crab shedding its shell. Real action starts at about :50 second mark. (HT: Ace)
I thought just the top shell would come off. Naked crab!
Going Into Space – For Cheap
Behold, Pacific Star II. A balloon, some helium, some styrofoam, a couple hacked digital cameras – and 120,000 feet.
Pacific Star II from Colin Rich on Vimeo. (HT: David Thompson)
- "The author is also reckless at times and subject to grandiose overstatements..." -Robert Lund on Taleb’s 'The Black Swan'
Recent Comments
-

Brits
faith
foodies
friends
funny-ish
miscellaneous
space
WP Blogroll
writing
Tags
Air Force Academy APOD Arizona bacon baseball blogging Britain Brits Chicago Christmas climate change earthquake Eyjafjallajökull faith food Geminids geocaching global whining gwot Haiti heroism hippies horta Iceland illegal immigration islam IT Kilaue'a lava lightning miscellaneous Obama politics qotd religion rescue Sakurajima Scott Brown socialism space Star Wars Tea Party terrorism volcanoes wisdomWho's Online
1 visitors online now
1 guests, 0 members
Map of Visitors
Powered by Visitor MapsChat Me Up
Meta
